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KRS One Information
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'Lawrence Krisna Parker' (born August 20, 1965) is an emcee born in Park Slope, Brooklyn, USA. Over his career he has been known by several psuedonyms, including 'Kris Parker', 'KRS One', 'The Blastmaster' and 'The Teacha'. KRS One is a highly respected figure in the hip hop community and is often referenced in works by other hip hop artists.
Youth and early career
Born Lawrence Parker in 1965, the future KRS-One (an acronym for Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone) grew up with his brother Kenny with their single mother in assorted inner-city neighborhoods of Brooklyn and the Bronx. According to interviews he's done in The Source Magazine, one fateful day when he was 12, he and Kenny prepared a pan of flavored rice, which was to be the family™s dinner for the evening. But the hungry pair ate the whole thing, and when their mother came home from work, she kicked them out of the apartment in a fit of anger. On a whim, they stayed gone for two whole days before the younger Kenny decided to go back home, while Larry decided to stay gone. He spent the better part of the next seven years homeless, spending much of his time in local libraries.
By the time he was around 17, he fell in with some marijuana dealers and became a courier. Using a bread delivery truck as a cover (!), Parker and his partner had garbage bags full of the product that they would drive around town to make drops. One day, a police car pulled up behind them and started flashing their lights. Parker™s partner”who was driving”panicked, and decided to lead the cops on a several-miles-long chase, after which the truck was finally crashed, and the duo were apprehended. At the trial, the judge made the ironic commentary that the only reason the cops initially tried to pull them over was because they had private plates on a commercial vehicle”they initially had no intention of searching for drugs.
Parker, still a minor, claimed he was a ward of the state, and got sent to a juvenile home for his sentencing, after which he was moved to a Covenant House youth homeless shelter. It was there that he met Scott Sterling, a recent college graduate who just started working at the shelter as a social worker. Soon, Parker found that Sterling moonlighted as a hip-hop DJ under the name Scott LaRock. By this time, Parker had earned the nickname ˜Kris™ from the relationship he had developed with local Hare Krishnas that evangelized near the shelter. Heavily influenced by Eastern philosophies, he was also an aspiring rapper, and practiced routines in verbal spars with the other shelter residents.
The pair, along with two other fellows, decided to form a rap group together, initially calling themselves Scott La Rock and the Celebrity Three. That was short-lived, however, as the two peripheral members quit, leaving Parker (now calling himself KRS-One) and Sterling. They then decided to call themselves Boogie Down Productions. œSuccess is the Word, a 12 single release on indie Fresh/Sleeping Bag Records (under the puzzling group name ) didn™t go anywhere; soon after, the pair approached another NY indie, Rock Candy Productions, for a deal. As it turns out, the ˜entertainment™ company was allegedly a front for a pornography operation”but Sterling and Parker convinced the boss to front them the money to record an album, under the newly created ˜subsidiary™, B-Boy Records. After a few 12 single releases, the Criminal Minded album finally surfaced.
He embarked on a career in music when he formed Boogie Down Productions together with DJ Scott La Rock. Their debut album Criminal Minded was released in 1987. Criminal Minded featured many dis tracks that attacked other hip hop emcees and tracks about street crime ("wa da da deng wa da da da deng, listen to my nine millimeter go bang"). KRS One and La Rock appeared on the cover of the album holding firearms, a controversial precendent that would be followed by many rap artists in the years to follow. Musically, the album was based around James Brown samples and reggae influences. They also sampled hard-rock band AC/DC on "Dope Beat". During these years, KRS-One was also famously involved in a a hip hop battle with MC Shan, of Queensbridge. KRS objected to MC Shan calling Queensbridge the home of hip hop, and attacked him viciously on a seminal battle rap, The Bridge Is Over.
Later career and emphasis on political issues
Following the fatal shooting of Scott La Rock in 1987, Boogie Down Productions (BDP) became increasingly political. KRS One was the primary motivation behind the HEAL compilation and the Stop the Violence Movement. KRS One attracted many prominent emcees to appear on the 12-inch single "Self Destruction". As Parker adopted this more conscientious, less violent approach, he stopped calling himself "The Blastmaster" (his battle rap nickname), and instead began calling himself "The Teacha", turning the nickname KRS-ONE into the backronym "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone".
On his first solo album, 1993's Return of the Boombap, KRS worked together with producers DJ Premier (Gang Starr), Showbiz and Kid Capri. The catchy yet very hardcore track "Sound of da Police" is featured on this album. His second album, KRS One featured Channel Live on the track "Free Mumia", a political protest song about Mumia Abu-Jamal, an imprisoned African-American and Black Panther member who a vocal group of activists on the political Left claim is innocent of the crime of which he was convicted. Other prominent guest artists on KRS One included Mad Lion, Busta Rhymes, Das EFX and Fat Joe.
In 1997, Parker surprised many with his release of the album "I Got Next". The record included a remix of the single "Step into a World" which featured a sample from the 1970s rock group Blondie by commercial rap icon Puff Daddy. "Heartbeat", featuring Angie Martinez and Redman, was based on the old school classic "Feel the Heartbeat" by the Treacherous Three. These collaborations with notably mainstream artists took many fans and observers of the vehemently anti-mainstream KRS One by surprise.
In 1999, there were tentative plans to release an album called "Maximum Strength"; a lead single, "5 Boroughs", was released on The Corruptor movie soundtrack. However, KRS apparently decided to abort the album's planned release, just as he had secured a position as a Vice-President of A&R at Reprise Records. KRS moved to southern California, and stayed there for two years, finally ending his relationship with Jive Records with A Retrospective in 2000. The next year, he resigned his position at Reprise and in 2001 The Sneak Attack was released on Koch Records. In 2002, he released a gospel-rap album, Spiritual Minded, surprising many longtime fans. Parker had once denounced Christianity as a "slavemaster religion" which African-Americans should not follow. He founded the Temple of Hiphop, and released a new album, Kristyles, in mid- 2003, which was preceded by KRS-One: The Mixtape. He has most recently released Keep Right in the summer of 2004.
September 11 comments and ensuing controversy
In 2004, KRS engendered a controversy when he was quoted in a panel discussion hosted by New Yorker Magazine as saying that African-Americans "cheered when 911 happened". The comment drew criticism from many sources, including a pointed barb by the New York Daily News that called Parker an "anarchist" and said that "If Osama Bin Laden ever buys a rap album, he'll probably start with a CD by KRS-One.".
Parker responded to the furor surrounding his comments with an editorial written for AllHipHop.com. In it, Parker said "I was asked about why Hiphop has not engaged the current situation more (meaning 911), my response (sic) was 'because it does not affect us, or at least we don™t perceive that it effects us, 911 happened to them'. I went on to say that 'I am speaking for the culture now; I am not speaking my personal opinion.' I continued to say; '911 affected them down the block; the rich, the powerful those that are oppressing us as a culture. Sony, RCA or BMG, Universal, the radio stations, Clear Channel, Viacom with BET and MTV, those are our oppressors those are the people that we™re trying to overcome in Hiphop everyday, this is a daily thing. We cheered when 911 happened in New York and say that proudly here. Because when we were down at the trade center we were getting hit over the head by cops, told that we can™t come in this building, hustled down to the train station because of the way we dressed and talked, and so on, we were racially profiled. So, when the planes hit the building we were like, 'mmmm, justice'. And just as I began to say 'now of course a lot of our friends and family were lost there as well' but I was interrupted..."
Discography
Boogie Down Productions
* Criminal Minded (1987)
* Man & His Music (1988)
* By All Means Necessary (1988)
* Ghetto Music: The Blueprint of Hip Hop (1989)
* Edutainment (1990)
* Live Hardcore Worldwide (1991)
* Sex and Violence (1992)
Solo albums
* Return of the Boom Bap (1993)
* KRS One (1995)
* I Got Next (1997)
* The Sneak Attack (2001)
* Profits vs. Prophets (2002)
* Spiritual Minded (2002)
* Kristyles (2003)
* KRS-One: The Mixtape (2003)
* The Kristyle (Reissued on new label with new songs) ["To have everything, keep radiating in spirit through your love everyday."] (2003)
* Digital (2004)
* Keep Right (2004)
Guest appearances
* "Clobberin' Time/Pay The Price" by Sick Of It All from Blood, Sweat, And No Tears (1989)
* "Radio Song" by R.E.M. from Out of Time (1991)
* "Good Kill" by Too Much Joy from Cereal Killers (1991)
* "The Jam" by Shabba Ranks (1991)
* "Rough..." by Queen Latifah on Black Reign (1993)
* "East Coast-West Coast Killas" by Dr. Dre from Dr. Dre Presents...The Aftermath (1996)
* "C.I.A. (Criminals In Action)" Zack de la Rocha, KRS-One, The Last Emperor on Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1 (1999)
* "B-Boy 2000" by Crazy Town on The Gift Of Game(1999)
* "Return of Hip Hop" by DJ Tomekk on The Return of Hip Hop'' (2001)
Cameos and roles in film
* "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" (1988) - KRS One and BDP walk behind Jack Spade performing his theme music
* "Who's the Man?" (1993) - Rashid
* "SUBWAYstories: Tales from the Underground" (1997) - Vendor
* "Rhyme & Reason" (1997) - Himself
* "Boricua's Bond" (2000) - ?
* "2Pac 4 Ever" (2003) - Narrator
* "Beef" (2003) - Himself
* "Hip-Hop Babylon 2" (2003) - Himself
* "Soundz of Spirit" (2003) - ?
* "5 Sides of a Coin" (2003) - Himself
* "War On Wax: Rivalries In Hip-Hop (February 2004) - Himself
* "Beef 2" (2004) - Himself
* "And You Don't Stop: 30 Years of Hip-Hop" (2004) - Himself
* "Hip-Hop Honors" (2004) - Himself
* "Keep Right DVD" (2004) - Himself
Popular culture
KRS-One is also the title of a song on Sublime's 40 oz. to Freedom album, which is a tribute to the aforementioned musician.
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